Understanding your market, who they are, how they communicate, and what they need from you is essential. Set aside some time year to ponder some of the following questions:

1. Who is your market? Is your market who you thought they would be? Are your reaching clients you didn’t expect to, and are they feeling just as valued as your ideal clients? Were you anticipating your client base to be primarily women, and now find that men are showing interest as well? Is your content or marketing material gender neutral enough to appeal to this unexpected market?
2. Do you know their demographics? Where do they live or work? Do they commute and would like downloadable audios to listen to while they’re driving? Do they have a busy family life and need teleseminars offered after hours when their little ones are asleep? Or do they find it difficult to make live calls at all, and instead prefer recorded classes they can listen to when its more convenient?
3. Be open to refining what your products or services are. Do you offer lengthy courses, while some of your market would prefer to have the option for a shortened “crash” course? When was the last time you revamped you offerings? Take a look at products you offered over the last 5 years; should they be updated or simply freshened up?
4. Are you offering your products only as an online download, where some of your clients may prefer to purchase a hard copy of the product?
5. How do they prefer to be communicated to? Do you primarily communicate via email, and they would prefer a place they can log into to see what’s new and exciting?
6. Are they connected with other members of your community? Do the products or services you provide lend themselves to the need for a support structure? Are you giving your clients the opportunity to talk to each other, learn and grow with each other?
7. How did they hear about you? And are you focusing your marketing efforts in that direction?
8. Are you following what is being said about your brand online? And when you find comments, are you replying in a personal and prompt fashion?
9. When was the last time you solicited feedback from your clients? Are there any other needs that aren’t being met, are there products or services that they’d like to see that you hadn’t considered developing? Are there missed opportunities?
10. Do your clients understand all of your offerings? Do they understand how they connect with each other?

Try to regularly check in with your clients, they’ll appreciate feeling that there is the opportunity for open communication. But remember, as much as it’s important to ask for feedback, it’s equally important to implement some of the suggestions, and respond and thank your clients for their time.

Don’t just structure your business around what you think your clients need, and don’t spend time guessing about what they need – just ask them!

Size it Up

The first thing I do when I’m cleaning my home for “the deep spring clean” is look around at what all I have and what needs to be done, and that usually leads me to one of my infamous lists. So it only made sense for me to do the same with my social media presence.

Get out a new Excel spread sheet, or plan ‘ol sheet of paper and a pen. Write down the social networks you’re focusing on right now. For me that was Facebook and Twitter as well as a few niched social sites I’m on and a few blogging platforms. Make note of where you’re at now:

• Followers/Connections – how many followers and connections do you have on each network right now.
• Links – in your bio, on your about page. Are they up to date? Does anything need some pruning here?
• Your pictures – are your main pictures up to date?
• What you’re posting, spontaneous and scheduled – Take a note of how often you’re posting, once a day or more? Maybe three times a week?
• Make note of what posts received more likes/shares/retweets for further inspection – Paste the URLs of these updates into your worksheet.

Pampered Profiles

Now that you’ve taken roll of all your profiles let’s polish them up. Once I’ve looked over everything I have I’m always full of ways to change and improve. Don’t you get those ideas buzzing in your head too?

Update anything that was out of date – Anything from your list above fix it now, don’t put it on a to-do list that might get lost.
Tweak your normal schedule where you see improvements can be made – If you saw a theme in your most popular posts brainstorm how you can do more of that and get even more engagement and viral exposure.

Add new content – I’m always looking for new and easier ways to share content so my audience has the best information all in one place. After my spring cleaning I added a few new tools to my rotation. The tool that has made the biggest impact for me so far has been Buffer.

Reflections

This is where we take a step back and look at our business goals for the rest of the year and how we need to adjust our social media to match those goals. Remember your social media should be a direct reflection of your over all business goal.

What product launches do you have planned? You want to be sure you have social media tied into your launches to get as much viral exposure to your product as possible. Also keep in the back of your mind how you want to tie social media into your affiliate promotions for your launches as well!

What events are on your schedule? Can you do any connecting online before, during and after your events (whether you’re an attendee or a speaker)? Think of creative ways to meet and really create online relationships from these events.

What affiliate promotions do you have lined up? Do you have any programs you’re an affiliate for that require social media activity? You need to factor that is as well! You don’t want your social calendar to be full of promo items.

Holiday specials? Do you have special discounts or contests that you want to run during the holidays? Factor these in now and think needs to prep for those so it’s all ready to fire off when the time comes.

What I do is grab my calendar and jot everything down and create a content and engagement plan. How am going to tie in all these promotions to my normal social media activities?

Irresistible Invitations

Social media is all about sharing valuable information and staying in touch with your prospects. You also want to be offering the next step, what do you want them to do next?
Ideas to consider:

• Newsletter Subscriptions – this is one of the most powerful ways to stay in touch with your prospects regularly and they to know a bit more about you personally too.
• Freebies – Always have a variety of goodies to give your fans. From video training to Ebooks and reports to audio courses. You can even ask your audience what their biggest pain point is (with say a Facebook question or a Tweet) and then give them exactly what they’ve asked for! I bet if you answer their immediate needs or wants they will optin for it!
• Teleseminar or Webinars – these are so much fun and really give great value to your audience. You can run these whenever you want! And be sure you have a call to action of some sort at the end; grab a spot for your free discovery sessions or whatever the next step is into your funnel.

You really want to be the go to person for your specialty and giving your visitors the opportunity to go deeper and learn more with you. One step at time, gradually building a loyal and engaged fan, priceless!

New Goals

Now all your social profiles are refreshed and feeling great let’s set some new goals! Things to consider:

• Increase your Twitter followers – What tools would you like to use to grow your followers? Are you going to have your virtual assistant help with any portion of this project? One tool that I’ve been using lately to improve my Twitter network is ManageFlitter.
• Build your Facebook Page – Are you going to use Facebook ads? Are you going to engage with other Pages to increase exposure of your page? Jot down your ideas and start working into action steps. I have been using Facebook ads to grow my Page with a low budget and excellent targeting; the key to these ads is the targeting!
• Expand your LinkedIn Network –Want to connect with one of those groups you’re a member of and have not really done anything with? Put it on your calendar and commit to spending time there. I highly recommend you stick with one or two groups to start and as you get comfortable you can increase the number of groups you’re engaging with.
• Increase your Blogging Activity – This is a big one! If you’re blogging here and there and want to really create a hub for your networking this is what you want to focus on! If you really want people to start visiting your blog and commenting regularly you have to be consistent.

One of the biggest hurdles I hear from entrepreneurs is the time it takes to write the content. Here’s a few ideas for you; 1) use content from transcripts or your books – have your virtual assistant pull out some juicy topics and use them as blog posts, or 2) pick one day a month where you do all your blog writing and then schedule them out.

Grow

Set milestones for your growth goals. I know I do 10 times better with deadlines and milestones in place. So once you’ve gone through and considered your goals for the rest of the year, or even just the next quarter put some milestones on your calendar. Hold yourself accountable.
Here’s a few ways I keep myself on track with social media goals:

• Specific numbers – I set specific growth numbers I want to reach by month. So say you want to have 500 new Twitter targeted followers by the end of the month. What does that mean you or your team have to accomplish each month?
• Weekly tasks – What specific tasks do you need to do each week to reach your specific numbered goal? What tools will I use for these tasks?
• Monthly tasks – Tracking and measuring are on my monthly to-do list. Did I achieve my goal this month? Did something happen that I didn’t expect? Why? If it was good, how I can I do more of that?

I’m of the mindset that I can always improve and grow and am looking for those opportunities all over the place!

There you have it, your spring cleaning social media style. Spending a bit of time this week to walk through these steps will have your social media sizzling in no time flat!

Then it hits us, we’ve grown too much and we’re working longer hours, cancelling personal appointments, missing time with family – the creative drive that fueled us at the start now is dwindling beneath the “everything else” it takes to run a business.

Not to mention the little tasks that start to build up that we really don’t like doing (in my case, bookkeeping, I will literally procrastinate forever to get out of that pesky task and in fact, it was the first piece of my business I did bring in outside help).

So why do we do it? Why do we feel that we need to “do” every aspect of our business?

It’s an interesting trend I’ve observed. So many successful entrepreneurs at one time or another worked in a more traditional “brick and mortar” corporate environment where there were multiple departments (marketing, accounting, human resources, customer service) that supported the management staff and kept the company moving forward. Yet, we open our own business without the same functions that seem to work so well.

Although this isn’t the case for all entrepreneurs, I’ve found that many start their new endeavors out of a small office, perhaps a home office. This “isolation” of being by ourselves makes us feel that we need to do it all ourselves, and this isn’t the case. While we may invest in coaching or masterminds, we don’t invest in support to help us grow.

Secondly, many entrepreneurs don’t think they’re big enough to deserve support – when really they were big enough the day they opened their doors. Really having a business is like owning a car – sure you’re good to put gas in it or top up the washer fluid, but to properly maintain your vehicle you pull in specialists to fix the brakes, change the oil, or rotate your tires. Sure, you could learn how to do all of this, but could you do it as well or as efficiently? Why not just stick to filling the car with gas, let the experts manage the rest.

Lastly, entrepreneurs seem reluctant to invest in activities that don’t immediately seem to generate revenue, and what we fail to see is that any activity that is best done by someone else, and takes away from our ability to go out and do what we do, can cost revenue. Let’s go back to the car analogy for a moment. As a car owner we keep the gas tank full, check the washer fluid regularly, but we notice that the tires don’t have the traction they used to (marketing), so we make do, drive a little more carefully, a bit slower, and just keep going. What we find is that the traction never miraculously comes back until we seek help to get us back on track. How long can you keep your business sliding all over the road, before you get the help you need to get and stay on track?

Don’t neglect the maintenance of your business – regularly fine tune processes and examine where you should be spending time and devoting energy. Look beyond your own skills, and embrace the assets of others. Most of all accept that yes – you do deserve support, your business needs more than just you to grow, and the perfect time is now.

Now what…

You need to get that package, and YOU, in front of your target audience.

Increasingly we’re reliant on technology to get our message out. No longer are we placing ads in the paper or sending out direct mail. We’re using autoresponders, we’re taking payments online using merchant accounts, and we have virtual shopping carts. While it is an amazing opportunity to sell to a larger, and more global, market than ever before, how is an entrepreneur supposed to keep up with changing technology, understand how to use the technology, determine what technology is the right fit for them, AND focus on the creativity they need to fuel their business and develop new products.

And the choices!!!

How do you navigate it all? And when you need answers, where do you go?

Quite often when our clients start with us, they are not only confused about the technology they’re trying to use, but struggling about whether the product they’ve purchased is the right choice for them.

Here are our top 5 picks for navigating all of the options available for today’s entrepreneur:

1. When you’re out networking, talk to your colleagues about the technology they use and whether or not they’re satisfied with not only “what” it does, but the customer service they’ve received. This is especially important when considering where to put your mailing list, there is such a myriad of choices, and you should very carefully consider not only what you want it to do now, but what you want it to do 6 months or a year from now. Remember – if you move your mailing list from one platform to another, you could lose 50-70% of your subscribers. Choose carefully.

2. Do your own research. What is included in the “base” package? Is any training included? Can the product grow with you? Are enhancements to the base package included? How long has the company been in business?

3. Read product reviews online. What are others saying about their satisfaction (or lack thereof)? Are you finding more negative comments than positive? Do you hear the same complaints from multiple users that appear to be unresolved?

4. Try before you buy. Most products offer a trial period that you absolutely should take advantage of. Get in there and play around. Sign up friends for your newsletter; sign up yourself are you happy with the look and feel you’re able to create?

5. Call their customer support. How knowledgeable is the staff? Are they responsive? Can they give you references from other clients who have a business similar to yours? Are they familiar with the platform your website has been built in? Don’t be shy to ask questions, a lot of them.

As an entrepreneur, you don’t need to know how to work everything, but you do need to understand what the technology does for you and how you can leverage it within your company. Never feel rushed to make a purchase you’re not prepared to buy, your business is going to grow, make sure the technology you choose, can grow with you.

We’ve seen and experienced great things with our clients and love to see the magic social media can play on businesses. When you create an engaged community around your expertise, you provide amazing content and the opportunity for growth you will have people from all over the world swarming to experience what you have to offer.

I’ve put together 5 essentials to start engaging with your audience now:

1. Add value – Share valuable, useful content that your target audience can use. The more value you share the more they will comment, like, plus…all those things that matter in the social world we’re creating. 
Another way to add value would be to help others. Visit your communities often and answer questions, provide insights as resources as you can.
2. Reply and respond to posts in a timely manner – When someone shares a story or comments with great feedback or even asks a question let them know you’ve read it and give a nice response. It’s one of the easiest ways to start a conversation. You want to be sure your social accounts are monitored at least once a day so no comment goes left unattended for long.
3. Provide relevant and timely tips, insights, blog posts, and links – This is one of the best ways to get out, get noticed, get engaged and build relationships. Sharing other people’s content and industry news shows you’re on the ball for your specialty! These are the posts that get a ton of RTs on Twitter.
4. Be helpful (position yourself as an expert) – Each network has it’s own personality and sytle, be sure you speak to it. Share hot tips in 140 characters on Twitter. Make your content visual and share it on Pinterest. Then be sure to make it fun and interesting for Facebook, get tons of shares and loads of likes.
5. Reference interesting updates from your fans – Did one of your followers say something fun, cool or helpful? Share it with your followers and fans. The same goes for Facebook. Give recognition when you can and build a loyal following of engaged individuals.

There’s no time like now to start utilizing social media to propel your online business to the next level. Start a conversation, make a lasting connection and keep the engagement up.

Have fun and build amazing social relationships!

This year to keep myself more on track, I’m trying a few different ways to keep myself organized, here are my top 10:

1. Don’t over schedule yourself – plan time before your meetings to prepare, and plan time after to review and add to your notes. If there are action items you are responsible for, make note of them and build them into your schedule. If your meetings require travel, allow extra time for traffic so you don’t feel rushed.
2. Choose the right person for the job – If there is a project that is spending too much time on your list of things to do, it may be because it’s outside of your skill set. Reach out to a member of your team and see if it’s a project they would enjoy doing.
3. Choose the right time of day for the task – if you have a project that requires a lot of focus, choose to work on it during a time of day that you are less likely to be interrupted. This allows you to complete it more efficiently and gets the “to-do” off your list.
4. Make a priority list – what needs to be done today, what can hold for tomorrow.
5. Reward yourself – when your priority items are complete, reward yourself with something you enjoy, perhaps a walk around the block.
6. That being said, don’t only take breaks when you’ve completed a task, if you lose motivation on a task, take a break and come back to it with fresh eyes.
7. Choose the right project management system for you. We all start out thinking we’ve discovered the ideal way to get organized, and then find that it’s just not working. While it’s important to give yourself time to adjust to a new system, if it’s not working, it may be a good idea to find something else.
8. Build time into every day to focus – shut off your phone, turn off your email, and review the projects you’re working on. Also review projects that are on the horizon and prepare time in your schedule for them.
9. It’s ok to say no – be honest with those around you about your workload. By trying to take on too much, other projects may fall by the wayside.
10. Keep your timelines realistic – build time into your projects for the unforeseen.

And most of all – if your quest to be more organized for 2013 falls off the rails, don’t give up. Get back on track, review your organization system and make modifications if you need to!

I’ve shared my favorite organizational tips, what are yours?

Let’s start with your shoppingcart program. If you use a system like 1ShoppingCart or InfusionSoft follow these steps to work your tracking right into your existing system.

Setup an internal affiliate. This allows you to have a tracking link for every promotion you have and you will be able to measure how many leads and sales come in with your promotions. Setup your internal affiliate and then grab the tracking link for that affiliate. Now use this link in all your social media promotions.

Setup an adtracker in 1ShoppingCart. We use this strategy with our clients when we’re driving ongoing traffic to a URL but don’t want that link to appear in the affiliate programs. A few ideas where you can use this:

• Your newsletter/ezine sign up page
• An evergreen video training series
• A Facebook ad campaign

If you don’t have a cart program you can still track how many clicks your links are getting. This will enable you to see how much traffic is actually headed to your destinations from your social accounts.

Bit.ly You can setup a short tracking link with a free bit.ly account. For each link you will have a nice graph with demographic and click through stats. You won’t be able to see exactly which sales and leads came from this traffic but this a great place to start!

The other option is a more all in compassing system like HootSuite, which by-the-way is my favorite social media system and the #1 one recommendation I make to all of our clients! When you compose or schedule social media posts you can shorten the links right on the spot. Then HootSuite puts together some amazing click through information for you! Great stuff. I highly recommend this quick and easy option if you don’t have a cart system.

Now it’s your turn. Pick one of these options that will work for your business and start implementing. Remember you don’t have to do this alone! Ask a virtual assistant for help setting up and managing these systems for you.

To your social success!

Besides relaxation, there are a ton of reasons to regularly pick up a book, such as:

1. It exercises the brain much more so than watching tv;
2. It’s been said that reading strengthens brain connections and actually builds new connections;
3. Reading improves concentration;
4. Reading can improve your vocabulary; and,
5. It is a way to learn about the world around you, especially when reading about different time periods or
   cultures.

I love to browse the library and check out new authors, or revisit classics. I tend towards choosing a great fiction novel, but now and again I love a good biography.

But I don’t just read for the escapism of it all. I have an extensive library of non-fiction books as well, including some that have really influenced my business mindset. Here are some of my favorites:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Stephen Covey – I don’t think any business library is complete without this one. In fact, it is as much applicable to business as it is to personal discovery. There are parts of this book that have greatly impacted me personally.

The Dan Sullivan Question: Dan Sullivan – This book impacted me so much that I gave copies to many of my friends. I have read and re-read this book.

Book Yourself Solid: Michael Port – Don’t read this book like a book – it really is a guide to attracting great clients. Very thought provoking.

Tribes: Seth Godin – Honestly I think I quote from this book all of the time. Read it.

And my list could go on and on… thank goodness for libraries! I’d spend a FORTUNE on books!

What books top your list? Which ones have you read or re-read? Which ones are you dying to read? What book would you recommend to a budding entrepreneur, or someone who is looking for fresh motivation to rebrand an existing business?

I found this great infographic that lays out the details with best and worst times for the major social networks. Take a peek and jump on the top engagement times!

What I find so remarkable is that over the course of this year, and certainly over the course of my career, I have met the most interesting people from all over. I can start my day with calls out of the country, and finish off chatting with someone just down the street, and regardless of where I’m calling I always find something in common, and learn something wonderfully new. For this I am truly grateful. Frequently I find myself saying “what a small world” and truly it is. Within moments of getting on the phone, I feel instantly connected in some way and by the end of the conversation we’re chatting like old friends.

So I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the wonderful people I’ve met in 2012. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to connect with me, and for teaching me something new about you, and sometimes something new about myself.

To our amazing clients, thank you for continuing to be a part of the PMA family. Our partnership means the world to me, and watching your business grow and flourish brings me such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

Thank you to my team, you are my extended family. You put your heart into all of our clients, and support not just them but each other. Although geographically we are far apart, I frequently find myself saying that we should “sit down” and chat, even though you’re thousands of miles away.

And of course, thank you to my family, for continuing to support me in all that I do. The appreciation I have for your endless commitment to me and to each other is beyond words.

I definitely want to make it my New Year’s resolution to be more thankful for everyone in my life – and to not just feel it, but express it to those around me. A friend once said to me that the days go by so slow, but the years go by so fast. I want to make 2013 a year to remember not just the changes in my life, but remember those who have touched it.

Happy New Year from all of us here at PMA!